There are ties primordial ones that are not easily forgotten. They are rooted within us and we carry them with us everywhere and in everything we do throughout our existence. In fact, one of the ties The strongest is the one with one's own land of origin, which inevitably becomes a source of inspiration. The Lucanian writer knows something about it. Vincenzo Corraro which he published with Besa muci Editor, Time hidden among the violetsThis is a noteworthy coming-of-age novel that enchants the reader with evocative descriptions of a land waiting to be explored: Basilicata.
The time hidden among the violets is a novel that speaks of bonds, redemption social and revenge starring Cosimo and Piera, children and mother trying to evolve their lives in a social context where corruption and prejudice reign. These prejudices prevent social and human improvement. A story that makes us reflect on the opportunities life places before us, opportunities that must be seized and lived to the fullest. bond morbid between Cosimo and Piera, the one narrated by Corraro will arouse interest in the reader who will find himself following with interest and empathy the events they will experience such as the meeting with Duilio, the business procurer and Livia, the rebellious and unconventional teacher.
The importance of certain bonds
There are many ingredients in this novel that will enchant you. How did the inspiration for the novel come about? writing We talk about The Time of Violets and those bonds that mark us throughout our existence with the writer Vincenzo Corraro in this interview.
How did the inspiration for writing The Time Hidden Among the Violets come about?
It began as a reflection on time and an attempt to bring into focus symbols, facts, or images that each of us, in the tangled street map of memory, carries with us. In the limited space and fixed places I encounter daily, it is only the dilation of time—and, let's say, a vertical, entirely internal perspective, recovering certain suggestions that I now consider the core or mood of what happens to me—that delineates the generative womb of stories and characters. Or the meaning and content of their interlocking. It was a work centered on the clarity and intimate substance of things, on a type of narration that lacked precise temporal coordinates and was lost in the landscape, to which I attribute greater narrative resistance and therefore a greater duration of events. And then there is the theme of time, which is dilated, almost uncontrollable.
Although it's not specified, the descriptions of the area where your novel is set refer to Basilicata, your homeland. How attached are you to it?
Well, when describing the places around me, it's undeniable that I capture the peculiarities of the region where I live. Indeed, I capture its colors, atmospheres, and ruggedness. I chose it as my chosen location, not so much for reasons of identity, but because the theme of landscape, in the close connection between interiority and the external world, is enriched by elements I know very well. I can confidently dilute these elements in the narrative. Naturally, there's also an emotional or aesthetic connection because living in the mountains, among oak forests and streams, college, it would be a real shame not to be able to tell of this lively solitude or of a nature that marginalizes man and becomes lush and dominant.
The bond with one's homeland
The connection to one's homeland and the need for roots and connections is one of the themes of your novel, a strong feeling for Piera and her son Cosimo. Do you think this connection can become a limitation?
The answer to this question lies within the previous one. I believe that the relationship with places is closely tied to that of livability. Therefore, looking around, exploring the horizons of our living or territorial dimension, with all the burden of symbols and emotions that this relationship inevitably arouses, is a treacherous game. Because on the one hand, an unconscious bond is created, on the other, we sense the limits of its repetitiveness. This is why Piera and Cosimo sow seeds of discontinuity in their precarious equilibrium. At a certain point, their source of anxiety dissolves into unpredictable worlds. This happens when these worlds collide with their lives and their spaces. And indeed, as if by magic, every one of their sacrifices is reversed. It is a constant daring (in feelings, in business, in the mastery of events) that becomes a re-tuning with places, a grasping of things from a different perspective.
The bond between mother and child
Piera's bond with her son is strong and almost morbid. How and to what extent does the bond between son and mother influence our romantic relationships, as it does with Cosimo, in your opinion?
Yes, it's a decidedly obsessive bond, conditioned by the suffocating spaces of the house and the setting. Furthermore, it's a restrictive attitude, quite plausible. Therefore, it poisons many relationships and many lives. However, Cosimo, in his own way, is a rebel, possessed of internal conflict and sensitivity. These qualities allow him to filter everything that happens to him with critical thinking and distrust. This family conditioning is merely a shell. In fact, he takes refuge in it to maintain a balance that is necessary to avoid destabilizing his mother. In reality, he plays a double game. On the one hand, he dominates the situation to preserve his mother's fragility; on the other, he throws himself heart and soul into every new experience, but with a modesty that is at first naive and then so detached that he lacks any emotional involvement. It is when the balance is about to break that the microcosm strengthens, and it is a tacit condition, a tortoise that the 'destabilizers' (Livia, Duilio) simply cannot do anything about.
The need for revenge
Is there a character in your novel you're particularly attached to, and why?
To Duilio. The fixer who stirs up order. Not because of sympathy for the dark side of things or the somewhat dark undercurrents in his stories, but because he's a restless, unresolved, over-the-top character. He's, in fact, a man without limits, both in his decisions and in his exploration of the main characters. A kind of threat, albeit a good-natured one, that has entered the Ricciardi family's sphere to draw them out of their torpor, break the mold, and break Piera's stubborn solitude. To disturb Cosimo's lyricism, to prod him into his disenchanted world so that his journey of formation may be completed.
"Time Hidden Among the Violets" is a novel about revenge and redemption. What is social redemption in your opinion?
The fulfillment of one's life aspirations in a context that recognizes and respects the dignity, diversity, education, and culture that each of us possesses. And in this context, people must truly feel good.
The passion for writing
How did your passion for writing begin?
As a boy. I always associated it with observation and comprehensionTo the need to search for the most appropriate words, those closest to the sense and meaning of what I observe. To give the most appropriate and personal tone to a thought, a feeling, or a curiosity, so as to create a network of words into which to graft the invention of stories.
Each of us is unconsciously influenced by certain writers. Do you have any literary mentors?
I adore, above all, Pavese, Fenoglio, and Giorgio Bassani, whose prose—to stick to the themes we've discussed—are three supreme expressions of this excruciating relationship between man and nature, memory, landscape, and history. Among their contemporaries: Rocco Carbone and Mario Desiati.
In your everyday life, you're a teacher, so you're in contact with the younger generations. How can you introduce them to the world of writing and literature?
It's not easy. Reading and booksReading, at least in school, is often considered a mere afterthought. Therefore, it's something to be done out of obligation. Instead, to create a positive relationship between children and the world of reading (and writing), we need to work hard on themes, experiences, and stories that are very close to their own lives. First, we need to know about children and their concerns. Help them understand that there are stories and authors, even those from long ago, that they can perceive as current and vital. We need to tell them that everything they're experiencing has already been written about, having experienced the same things. And together, we need to find the right story that fits and captures their emotions.
